"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, noble and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." - Anonymous

Monday, November 24, 2008

Snout plowing

I heard on the news last night that by the early morning hours there would be snow on the ground.

Sure enough. I peaked out the bedroom window at 5:45AM and there was snow.

Not tons of snow but definitely measurable. And enough to make me grumble under my breath at the fact that the first real snowfall of the season had to happen on a Monday morning. Monday morning when I have garbage to take out and other miscellaneous Monday things to attend to besides my typical before-work sort of stuff. Oh, and I had to find my snow boots. And the snow brush for the car ... is it in the car? ... and grab the shovel out of the garage on my way back from taking out the garbage. Grumble, grumble. You know – everything is Just. So. Difficult. on a Monday morning.

So ten minutes behind schedule (really? just ten?) and it's time to take the beagles out for our early morning walk.

Finally, I had my chance to appreciate the falling snow. It was coming down at it's heaviest on our walk I think and the neighborhood was quiet and lovely and coated thick white. Diesel tugged ahead (he loves fresh snow). Marvin pranced his Lipizzaner stallion gait at my side looking up at me, blinking back the snow falling in his eyes. Snow doesn't deter him from looking-looking-staring expectantly up. He knows he's got me trained to toss him a treat when he prances so fancy.

We get to the yard with the long row of evergreen shrubs. This is a favorite area for snouting and peeing and eating inappropriate objects (bunny poo) and other beaglesque activities. This morning it was snout plowing. Marvin buried his snout in the snow and pushed the snow along in a pattern. He did it again and again which led me to believe it wasn't random, but perhaps he was on a scent. Tail starts wagging and Diesel's interest is peaked. Yep, there's something there.

I'm fascinated when they know something I don't and I watch and watch. Suddenly POP! out hops out a little voll (or mouse? too quick to tell) leaving the assumed safety of his below-snow burrow to high-tail it out of the beagles' reach to the cover of the hedgerow.

I'm left with two astounded hounds and a huge smile on my face. Okay, maybe snow on a Monday morning isn't so bad after all.

I'm not a snow person, I hate the cold, but I know what you mean about when it's falling in big fat lazy flakes and it's so peaceful, we were lucky enough to have that one Christmas eve here, lovely! No snow photos?Slobbers xx

Oh wow! What a surprise finding the little mouse. I actually like the snow when I can just enjoy its beauty. That must've been a special early morning walk, so quiet with the snow falling. They must've looked like two sugarplums with the snowflakes landing on them, before melting away! :)

Congratulations on your blog! The DogTime.com team has been reading through hundreds of pet-related blogs and we've selected your blog to be a DogTime Blog Star. We invite you to join the DogTime Blog Network based on the following criteria:

Enthusiasm and love of for petsRelevant and thorough pet content

Who is DogTime? DogTime Media is the largest online community of animal lovers with nearly 8.2 million unique visitors per month and over 180 member sites which include the best dog, cat, bird, fish, reptile and horse content from across the pet category. Please visit DogTime.com to learn more about our mission.

As a DogTime Blog Star more pet enthusiasts will see and read your blog and provide you with the opportunity to share your love of animals. Once you have joined the DogTime Blog Network there may be an opportunity for you to qualify to make advertising revenue.

Participation is simple, as we will use your existing RSS feed to feature your blog and posts. If you would like to participate, simply reply to this email with the URL of your RSS feed.

We will reply back with your own DogTime Blog Star badge to post on your blog site. For more details about the benefits of participating in the DogTime Blog Network please refer to our FAQs here: http://dogtime.com/dogtime-blog-network-faq.html. If you have additional questions please contact me directly.